Phil Miller covered three seasons of Twins baseball, but that was at a different ballpark for a different newspaper. Now Miller returns to the baseball beat after joining the Star Tribune as the Gopher football writer in 2010, and he won't miss the dingy dome for a minute. In addition to the Twins and Gophers, Miller covered the Utah Jazz and the NBA for six years at The Salt Lake Tribune.

Molitor added to Gardenhire's coaching staff

Hall of Fame infielder Paul Molitor has been added to manager Ron Gardenhire's coaching staff, the Twins announced Tuesday, and will oversee bunting, base-running and infield positioning.

The St. Paul native, who had served as the team's minor-league base-running and infield coordinator since 2005, becomes the seventh full-time member of Gardenhire's coaching staff.

Molitor, 57, was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2004 after a 21-year career with Milwaukee, Toronto and the Twins, one of just six players ever to collect 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases during his career. He previously served as a Twins coach under manager Tom Kelly in 2000 and 2001, but was not retained when Gardenhire succeeded Kelly, and he was the Seattle Mariners' hitting coach in 2004.

Major-league rules were changed to allow teams to add a seventh coach last season, and Rochester manager Gene Glynn had also been considered for the position.

In other Twins news:

-- Outfielder Wilkin Ramirez, whose season was spoiled by injuries, was assigned outright to Class AAA Rochester on Tuesday, the Twins announced Tuesday.

Ramirez had been on the 60-day disabled list since September, after he broke his left tibia by fouling a ball off his leg during an Aug. 29 game. Ramirez appeared in 35 games, batting .272 with six RBIs, but missed nearly three months after suffering a concussion in May.

Ramirez can decline the assignment and become a free agent. The Twins still have 36 players on the 40-man roster, and one more, pitcher Samuel Deduno, on the 60-day disabled list.

-- Twins closer Glen Perkins underwent arthroscopic surgery two days after the 2013 season ended, the team announced Tuesday, but he should be ready for spring training in February. Perkins, who saved 36 games in his first full season as the Twins' closer, had the procedure to repair the meniscus in his right knee.

-- Outfielder Darin Mastroianni underwent surgery last week to have the pin in his left ankle removed. The hardware, removed last Wednesday, had been inserted during his May surgery to repair the broken bone in his foot, suffered during the final week of spring training. He also is expected to be fully healed by spring training.